Jewish Refugees Records

We need your help in locating Jewish refugees who came to San Francisco in the late 1930s and 1940 and their descendants. As restrictions tightened against Jewish people under Nazi rule in Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, several hundred Jews applied for entrance to the United States. They had the good fortune to have relatives and sponsors in the U.S. After traveling across Russia to China and Japan, they boarded ships for San Francisco. Dozens of families and individuals ended up at the Angel Island Immigration Station, underwent medical inspection and were detained for weeks because they did not have sufficient funds to reach their eventual destinations.

The database you see below was compiled by volunteers who reviewed files at the National Archives in San Bruno, California. Please contact AIISF by writing to info@aiisf.org or call 415-348-9200 if you recognize any of the individuals listed below. We would like to interview the descendants in order to get the full story on these brave and fortunate people who fled the Nazi regime. Most of these refugees lost their entire families in the Holocaust. Their stories remind us of that genocide must never be allowed to happen again to any group of people. This database also contains names and short profiles of Jewish refugees who came to Angel Island prior to 1939. After 1915, large numbers of Jews from Russia, Poland, and Lithuania. Many of them were men who had left their homelands to avoid military conscription. Families also fled because of anti-Jewish violence. Many families were able to enter the United States with the help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

Bag maker; Destined to Jews in SF; Wanted to avoid military service; Cousin in Chicago; Traube of HIAS introduces Koblik as sponsor and offers ticket to Chicago.

40085/12-1

Tieger, Sigmund Isreal

M

Austria

30 yrs

06/16/1940

Asama Maru

2 weeks

Sigmund arrived to join his uncle David Tieger in New Jersey after having left Austria. He was able to show multiple affidavits of support from his uncle David and those who knew his uncle to be a wealthy man. Having been sent extra money from his uncle and given the affidavits of support, Sigmund was granted entry into the US. It was noted that Sigmund was well educated and that he will not become a public charge.

Detention: 8 days
Notes: Bookkeeper, Chinese passport from HK, round trip ticket to Shanghai; Has $65; Joining friend in SF; Lived in Vladivostok and Shanghai (since 1931); Brother will send check from Shanghai; Plans to stay at YWCA; Excluded as LPC and unable to furnish bond; Declines to appeal; Deported 4/26/40 to Shanghai.

36023/06-3

Unger, Rachel

F

Poland

29 yrs

2/24/1936

Monterey

1 day

Citizen of England; Has $400 and passage paid by father; Literate; Came via Australia; Admitted 02/24/1935 as temp visitor for 6 months to study art and sculptor; Maiden name, "Rachel Brilliant" and married name, "Rachel Brilliant Unger;" Filed for 2 extensions, both granted; NOTE: Marries and leaves US for Cuba to reenter and petition for permanent residence

16742/18-3

Vodniak, Ionia

M

Russia

1900

12/08/1917

Nippon Maru

2 weeks

Clerk; Literate; Passage paid by HIAS of Yokohama; No money and no passport but presented a document bearing the seal of the Russian Consulate at Yokohama; Traveled with younger brother (Abraham Vodniak), who claimed to be 11 instead of 15 to get half fare, to join father (Ishiker Vodniak) in New Jersey; Two brothers in US; Mother, two brothers, and sister waiting in Yokohama; is charged from military service; father (tailor) interviewed in Philadelphia office; family in Yokohama for 2 weeks.

40253/02-6

Weinstock, Karl

M

Poland

1910

8/28/1940

Rakuyo Maru

1 month

Furniture draftsman; Vienna, Germany to Stockholm, Sweden to Yokohama and SF; Passage ($300) paid by Jewish society in Stockholm and he paid balance ($105 won in chess); Destined to cousin in NYC for permanent residence; German passport with Polish quota immig visa; Came as a refugee; No money; $1000 in NY bank by cousin; Supported by HIAS for 18 months; Admitted 09/30/1940 under Section 5 of 1924 Act.

40085/12-2-3 & 4

Wichert, Curt Samuel

M

Germany

38 yrs

06/16/1940

Asama Maru

unknown

Curt was an insurance consultant in Germany but during the rise of Hitler, he was put into a concentration camp and was released on the condition of exile from Germany. Having left Frankfurt, he worked as a wholesale salesman and later for a salt factory during an 11 month stay in Shanghai. He paid for the passage of the family from Shanghai to the US after receiving $100 of support from Dr. Hans Strauss, Sara's cousin. During interrogation Sara was able to provide two affidavits of support from Dr. Strauss and her rich cousin-in-law Edith R. Weinburg from Baltimore. On July 8th, the family received $500 bond from Dr. Stauss as well as another $500 bond from Edith via the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigration Aid Society of America to show that they will not become a public charge. With the bond, the family was admitted but Paul was sick so the family planned to travel to New York after he recovered.

40085/12-2-3 & 4

Wichert, Paul Isreal

M

Germany

2 yrs old

06/16/1940

Asama Maru

unknown

Curt was an insurance consultant in Germany but during the rise of Hitler, he was put into a concentration camp and was released on the condition of exile from Germany. Having left Frankfurt, he worked as a wholesale salesman and later for a salt factory during an 11 month stay in Shanghai. He paid for the passage of the family from Shanghai to the US after receiving $100 of support from Dr. Hans Strauss, Sara's cousin. During interrogation Sara was able to provide two affidavits of support from Dr. Strauss and her rich cousin-in-law Edith R. Weinburg from Baltimore. On July 8th, the family received $500 bond from Dr. Stauss as well as another $500 bond from Edith via the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigration Aid Society of America to show that they will not become a public charge. With the bond, the family was admitted but Paul was sick so the family planned to travel to New York after he recovered.

40085/12-2-3 & 4

Wichert, Sara Mathilde

F

Germany

28 yrs

06/16/1940

Asama Maru

unknown

Curt was an insurance consultant in Germany but during the rise of Hitler, he was put into a concentration camp and was released on the condition of exile from Germany. Having left Frankfurt, he worked as a wholesale salesman and later for a salt factory during an 11 month stay in Shanghai. He paid for the passage of the family from Shanghai to the US after receiving $100 of support from Dr. Hans Strauss, Sara's cousin. During interrogation Sara was able to provide two affidavits of support from Dr. Strauss and her rich cousin-in-law Edith R. Weinburg from Baltimore. On July 8th, the family received $500 bond from Dr. Stauss as well as another $500 bond from Edith via the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigration Aid Society of America to show that they will not become a public charge. With the bond, the family was admitted but Paul was sick so the family planned to travel to New York after he recovered.

14390/023-01

Wilner, Vladimer

M

Russia

1882

06/01/1915

Mongolia

7 weeks

Clerk; Literate; Passport; $25 and paid own passage; Entered via Kobe; Not much work in Russia and looking for better opportunity; Excluded because of limited money and limited employment and potential LCP; Wealthy relatives petitioned and paid for transportation to bring him to Edmonton, Alberta Canada

40152/15-11

Wunderlich, Edith Eva Susanne

F

Germany

42 yrs

07/13/1940

Tatuta Maru

0 day

Edith came to America to join her fiancee Sallow Wolff in Alameda, CA who lives with his mother, his sister and his sister's husband at the time and is supporting his mother. The two were both photographers and had known each other for 6+ years. He worked in Alameda in photography

15710/11-1

Yampolsky, Mordehai

M

Russia

1870

11/18/1916

Nippon Maru

1 month

Blind merchant and preacher; Has $330; Coming with wife Beilia, 45, and son Shuml, 17; Will seek med treatment or go to Buenos Aires where agriculture better for son; Gun shot wound 3 yrs ago; Fled war with 3,000 roubles; Cousins and bro-in-law in NY; Excluded as LPC; ed, son is mainstay); Admitted under bond with HIAS assistance.

14948/18-3

Yankel, Tandet

M

Russia

1898

01/14/1916

Nippon Maru

1 month

Printer; Literate; Has $3 and paid own passage; Lived in Harbin and came via Yokohama to avoid conscription; Excluded as LPC; Friend in SF (S. Wishmack) and a cousin in NY; Appeal by Harry K. Wolff of HIAS; Granted temporary admission with a bond; Admitted permanently 09/16/1916

14390/23-12

Yanowitch, Shlema

M

Russia

1876

06/01/1915

Mongolia

3 days

Farmer and storekeeper; Literate; Has $50 and paid own passage; Life insurance policy; Uncle (Motei Yanowitch) in NY and cousins in Iowa and NY; Wants to farm or start small business in SF; Admitted 06/04/1915.

14255/028-04

Yesozo-Limchik, Josef

M

Russia

1891

04/05/1915

Korea

1 day

Farm laborer from Siberia looking for work; Uncle in NY; Has $40; Brachmann of HIAS, witness Scharpanski (fellow passenger landed), and Hoyle (Arlington Hotel) offer to help; Admitted with help of two Hebrew societies.

16363/27-2

Yogolevitch, Paul

M

Russia

1902

07/19/1917

Tenyo Maru

4 days

Unaccomp minor to study music in NY; Has $270, diploma, passport; Former solider in Russian army wounded in battle; Wealthy father; Admitted 07/23/1917.

16842/28-30

Yossiphovitch, Shemen

M

Russia

1902

01/14/1918

Korea Maru

1 week

Farm laborer; Relatives in NY; No funds; Passport visaed by American consul in Vladivostok and Yokohama; Turned loose from Russian army when revolution took place and made way to Odessa; Home province occupied by German armies; HIAS helped him buy passage in Yokohama; Excluded because illiterate; Appeals; Leaves for Canada to join Jewish Legion.